The Incredible Story of Philanthropist George Soros

George Soros is an advocate. He has been an advocate for his entire life. He vocally advocates for refugees and immigrants because he was once both of those. He was forced to flee the horror of World War II in 1947 after surviving the Holocaust as a teenage Jewish Hungarian. More than 500,000 Hungarian Jews would be exterminated during a time in George’s life when most young men begin to think about girls.

In order to survive the Holocaust, George’s father had to move swiftly. His father had the ability to see storms coming on the horizon. This is a gift that he handed down to George who would later use it to make billions of dollars. This ability is also what saved the lives of the Soros family.

George Soros his father used all of the family wealth in order to obtain false identification documents for the entire family. This allowed them to hide in plain sight during the Nazi occupation of World War II. George Soros himself was able to see all of this horror up close and personal. It’s made an indelible impression on the young man before he became a refugee in 1947.

Fleeing the European mainland, the Soros family made their way to London. Now in his late teens, George had to pick up odd jobs as a railway porter and waiter in order to help support his family and put himself through the prestigious London School of Economics. He would work these odd jobs until he picked up his first real job at a merchant bank just after graduation.

He did not take this opportunity for granted as he scurried to raise $12 million in order to open his own hedge fund in the world’s largest financial markets on Wall Street. He would immigrate to the United States where he would build his fortune with daring trades. In fact, he gained worldwide acclaim when he broke the Bank of England by shorting the British pound to make $1 billion in a single day. Read more about George’s life story at biography.com.

He did not take his fortune for grant. In 1979, George founded the Open Society Foundation to help those still trapped under authoritarian governments in Europe. The foundation was originally intended to aid citizens trapped under communist rule segue their lives into a democratic government.

Now that communism has faded from planet Earth, the Open Society Foundation has evolved. It is now a collection of liberal leaning nonprofit organizations all over the world advocating for the less fortunate. The work includes giving voice to women in during harsh drug laws in Indonesia and men succumbing to punitive petty crimes in Africa. And it is all funded by George Soros who is worth more than $25 billion.